PARIS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - FIFA president Sepp Blatter expressed his 'sympathy' for Michel Platini's attempt to become the next president of UEFA on Friday, but stopped short of declaring his full support for the Frenchman.

Platini, 51, is standing against the incumbent Lennart
Johansson, 77, in a two-way fight for the presidency which will
be decided by a vote of UEFA's 52-member associations at its
Congress in Duesseldorf on Jan. 26.

Blatter, who will be 71 in March, has also endorsed
Johansson's candidature during the run-up to the election, but
again hinted he thought Johansson was too old to seek a fourth
term as president. The Swede has held the position since 1990.

'When you play soccer there comes an age when you are not
capable of playing any longer,' Blatter said at a news
conference marking the official opening of the French Football
Federation's new headquarters where he was the guest of honour.

All three men were present at the ceremonial opening of the
new offices on Boulevard de Grenelle in Paris on Thursday, but
Johansson was not at the news conference on Friday.

Blatter said: 'If you ask me to choose between a football
player and a director, my sympathy will go to the player.'

He continued: 'Michel and I created the slogan 'Football for
all and all for football' back in 1998 and I'm not ashamed to
say that I have sympathy for him.'

Trying to maintain as diplomatic a balancing act as
possible, Blatter, who does not have a vote in the election,
said that it was not up to him to arbitrate 'the match between
Johansson and Platini.'

Platini, the former French captain, who was Blatter's
personal advisor from 1998 to 2002, the year he became a member
of both the UEFA and FIFA executive committees, welcomed the
FIFA president's remarks.

'I am pleased that he sees me as a reliable candidate for
the UEFA presidency,' Platini told reporters after the press
conference. Although he is a vice-president of the French
federation, he was not on the speakers' podium.

'Mr Blatter is a man of great experience. He has tried to
make people understand a certain number of things even if he has
to remain impartial,' he added.

Platini admitted he was getting more and more cautious as
the day of the poll approached.

'There are about 20 federation presidents who have not
clearly said who they will support,' Platini said.

'I really don't know what's going to happen. I can't tell
you if I'm going to win or lose.'